Ellen DeGeneres is an American Emmy-winning talk show host, comedian, actor, writer, and producer. She started her acting career with television series Open House in 1989, where she starred in only just two episodes. However, she got her breakthrough with popular sitcom Ellen, which aired for four years between 1994 and 1998. However, her stand-up career started in the early 1980s and appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for her sketch. Carson then invited her for a chat after her sketch on the show, making her the first female comedian to be invited on the host’s show, which was considered to be one of the most validating things for a comedian.

She made her movie debut with Mr. Wrong in 1996, and soon appeared in EDtv, The Love Letter, and also voiced the character of Dory in the Pixar animated movie Finding Nemo in 2003, for which Ellen won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, making it the first time for an actress to win the award for a voice performance.

Ellen is also an author and has written My Point...And I Do Have One, The Funny Thing Is…, Seriously...I'm Kidding, and Home: The Art of Effortless Design, and co-wrote Vegan Cooking for Carnivores with Portia de Rossi, Quentin Bacon, and Roberto Martin. She also owns a record company Eleveneleven, Ellen Digital Ventures, and A Very Good Production Inc. As on 2016, Ellen has won 13 Emmys, 14 People’s Choice Awards, and innumerable accolades for her contribution to acting and other philanthropic work.

Early Life
Ellen is born on 26th of January, 1958 in Metairie, Louisiana to speech therapist Betty DeGeneres and insurance agent Elliott Everett DeGeneres. Of French, English, German, and Irish descent, her brother Vance is a musician and a producer. She attended Grace King High School. Her parents filed for separation in 1973 and were legally divorced the following year. After her parents’ divorce, Ellen’s mother remarried Roy Gruessendorf, a salesman, and Ellen moved in with her mother and her stepfather to Atlanta, Texas.

Upon moving to Atlanta, Ellen graduated from Atlanta High School in 1976. After graduating, Ellen moved back to New Orleans to attend the University of New Orleans, where she majored in communication studies. She dropped out of university after one semester to work with her cousin Laura Gillen at a law firm. Before becoming a stand-up or an actor, Ellen did odd jobs for a living such a waitress, a bartender, and a house painter.

Personal Life
Ellen came out as lesbian during her interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1997, which created a buzz in the American media. The constant media interference in DeGeneres’ life and their keen interest in her sexuality, led her to falling into depression. After Ellen’s big confession, her mother, Betty DeGeneres wrote in her book, Love, Ellen: A Mother/Daughter Journey, described her horror when Ellen told her about her sexual orientation. Despite being initially shocked, Betty is now her strongest support and is part of the Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays community and is also the spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign’s Coming Out Project.

Soon after Ellen came out, she began dating actress Anne Heche. The two dated for three years before calling their relationship off. After that, she maintained a close relationship with actress, director, photographer Alexandra Hedison and the two dated from 2000 to 2004. Since 2004, Ellen has been romantically involved with Portia de Rossi. Soon after the ban on same-sex marriage in California was revoked, Ellen and Portia got engaged and got married in 2008. The two live in Beverly Hills, California with their four dogs and three cats. Her wife then filed a legal petition to officially change her name to Portia Lee James DeGeneres in 2010. Ellen and Portia both are vegans and are big animal lovers. Although she intended to open a vegan tapas bar in Los Angeles, the idea did not materialize. The Ellen DeGeneres Show has a section dedicated to veganism by the name Going Vegan with Ellen, where she promotes Meatless Mondays and also features vegan recipes.

Stand-Up Career
Soon after dropping out of university, Ellen started doing odd jobs until she stumbled upon stand-up as a career. She started with small-time gigs at coffee shops and small clubs, but soon managed to emcee at Uncle Clyde’s Comedy Club. She began touring around the country and was soon named the funniest person in the whole of America after winning a comedy competition sponsored by television satellite network Showtime in 1982. Owing to her increasing popularity, she bagged a section in the very popular television show The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. After presenting her set at the show, she was called on to interview with Carson on the same show, which was considered to be a big achievement for a comedian.

Acting Career
Television
Ellen first appeared on television in 1989 with Fox’s sitcom Open House co-starring Alison LaPlaca and Mary Page Keller, where she played the role of an office worker, Margo Van Meter. Soon after her performance in the short-lived sitcom, Ellen was offered to work in Laurie Hill in 1992 where she portrayed the role of Nurse Nancy MacIntyre. Although the show was canceled after only four episodes, the showrunners were so impressed with her performance that they cast her in their next ABC project, These Friends of Mine. The name of the show was then changed to Ellen in its second season. She was often referred to as a female Seinfeld owing to her observational humor.

The ABC show gained momentum after Ellen came out as lesbian in 1997 on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The same year, Ellen conceptualized a ‘coming-out’ episode on her show where Oprah played the role of her therapist. This episode remains one of the highest rated episodes of the show. Despite high viewer ratings, the ratings of the fifth season of the show dropped after ABC cut down on the show’s promotions. Apparently, ABC’s parent company, The Walt Disney Company, was not comfortable with the kind of content that was being pushed on the show after Ellen had openly become gay. The show was then canceled in 1998, after which Ellen returned to stand-up only to become a successful talk show host.

She then returned to television with another sitcom, CBS’ The Ellen Show, however, the show failed to garner the same amount of popularity among viewers as her previous show. The sitcom was canceled after 13 episodes, leaving five unaired episodes. In 2003, she launched a daytime television talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which won several Emmy Awards in its first three seasons, and has also won the Daytime Emmy Award for the Best Talk Show. It also became the first talk show to in TV history to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show in its first three seasons. Ellen is known for interacting very closely with her audience, and sings and dances with them during commercial breaks. She also gives away free gifts and trips to her studio audience with the help of her sponsors.

In 2010, Ellen judged the American Idol, replacing Paula Abdul on the show. Although she signed a contract for five seasons, she quit the show after the first season itself. Ellen has hosted various award show functions, including the Emmys and the Oscar.

Movies
Ellen starred in the 1996 romantic-comedy Mr. Wrong where she played the role of Martha Alston co-starring Bill Pullman. Although the movie opened to mainly negative reviews, Ellen’s performance was noted by a few critics. She then appeared in American satirical comedy film EDtv in 1999, which bombed at the box office. In the same year she was seen in The Love Letter, co-starring Kate Capshaw.

Voice Artist
Ellen first lent her voice in for the dog in the prologue of the 1998 Eddie Murphy-starring Dr. Dolittle. However, her most noted work for a voice artist remains the short-term-memory-loss suffering fish Dory in the 2003 Disney/Pixar movie Finding Nemo. Her performance as Dory won her several accolades such as Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for Best Supporting Actress; Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie from the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards; and the Annie Award from the International Animated Film Association, for Outstanding Voice Acting. However, winning the Saturn Award made it the first and only time for a voice performance to win that award. In the 2016 sequel of Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, Ellen reprised the role of Dory.